What's with all of the bear shootings Canada?

[Amanda Hutchenson]

Hello all,

I'm a Canadian living abroad, so I tend to keep abreast of the news back home. I was particularly upset though by two news stories, one from back in June and one from two days ago.

Two days ago CBC News published an account of a bear that tore through a screen door and entered a home. Because it was so warm, the residents of that home had left the main door open so that they could generate a breeze through the screen door. The bear was hungry, smelled food, and got into the house. After waking up to a bear in the kitchen, they responded to this threat by shooting it. For the record, if you live in an area heavily populated by bears, especially grizzlys, DON'T LEAVE YOUR DOOR WIDE OPEN. This bear had to pay for these peoples' mistake. Yes it is good that nothing happened to the family, but it is really sad that a beautiful bear had to die in the process. This could have been avoided.

You can read the full article here. Warning, if you read the article, there is a graphic image of the slain bear.

I was really upset to read this story because I feel like it was a really rash reaction. I understand that they felt threatened, especially because the bear was so close to their kids room, but if the woman had the ability to run away and get her husband, then I think they had the ability to stay in a room with the door closed and call the police.

And yet, enter story two from back in June. Aparently the police seem to solve problems by shooting bears too. This is another article by CBC on a bear wandering around Newmarket. I understand that this again seems like a big threat because it is wandering around a majorly populated area and is showing up in people's back yards, by why does it need to be shot? Not to mention that this was a blackbear and not a grizzly, which is a lot less of a danger or risk. What is wrong with the animal control that they can't get out to the scene and tranquilize and relocate the bear? Seriously!?!?!?!

Sorry for the rant, but as a proud Canadian I usually am very happy to be able to say that Canadians are definitely not as trigger happy as Americans, but apparently when it comes to bears, a beautiful national animal, we are. It makes me very sad.

What do you guys think? How would you handle waking up to a bear in your house?

[Green Aura]

Unlikely in Scotland, I think.

More seriously, I suppose you'd do whatever you could to protect your family and of course having a firearm of some sort easily accessible moves using that quite high up on the list of possibilities.

As I know precious little about bears and their habits, would it have gone away if they'd kept out of the way? I assume the smell of cooking was the attraction, not the smell of humans.

Welcome to Ish by the way.